Information for tourists about the Royal Funeral of the late Thai King
The Royal Cremation Ceremony for His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is scheduled for 25-29 October 2017. The actual cremation will take place on Thursday 26th October 2017. I have had literally hundreds of questions sent to me by tourists and expats wanting to know how it will affect their lives and holidays. Some wanted to be able to avoid the crowds while others actually wanted to experience this historical event firsthand. As a consequence, I decided to put together a series of blogs together over on my travel blog www.thaitravelblogs.com.
In brief, life is going on much the same for foreigners in Thailand. Most who have come for beach holidays or visiting the mountains in the north probably won’t be affected that much. However, if they came for the nightlife scene, they may find that entertainment in bars and nightclubs have been curtailed this week. The government hasn’t banned the sale of alcohol, though you will most likely see a voluntary closure of all bars on Thursday 26th October which is the actual cremation day. Also on that day, many shops, restaurants and tourist attractions will either close for the whole day or will close early at about 3pm. The following day, 27th October, everything will be open as normal. The five day funeral finishes on the 29th October and the next day everyone will be wearing normal clothes again and all black mourning ribbons will be brought down.
The following are my blogs about the Royal Cremation Ceremony
- Everything you need to know about the Funeral of King Bhumibol in October
- How to visit the Royal Crematorium in Bangkok
- How to watch the Royal Cremation Ceremony of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej
- What to wear and what to expect if you attend the royal cremation ceremony
- Map of the 85 Replicas of the Royal Crematorium around Thailand
- Free parking and shuttle buses for mourners at Bangkok’s airports
- Information about the rehearsals for the royal funeral processions
- Flying of drones banned in Bangkok during the funeral of King Buhimbol
- Road and river closures for King Bhumibol’s funeral in October
- The Steam Train trip on 23 October 2017 has been cancelled
- Full List of tourist attractions, shops and other places closed on 26 October 2017
- No Muay Thai fights at Rajadamnern Stadium during October
- Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddha will be closed during October 2017
- Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall closed to tourists from 1 October 2017
- The next Koh Phangan full-moon party in October has been cancelled